


While the World Lasts

by ExtraPenguin



Category: A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2020, Pining, Poetry, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22883344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraPenguin/pseuds/ExtraPenguin
Summary: Mahit bought a poetry collection to read on her way back to Lsel Station. Unfortunately, the poems remind her a bit too much of Three Seagrass.
Relationships: Mahit Dzmare/Three Seagrass
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	While the World Lasts

> The greatest bane of existence  
> like winter's tail sinking into spring  
> the creeping dread of an animal of prey  
> is longing.

  
– Fifteen Whirlwind

Mahit set down the book. It was a collection of lesser-known poets' works from the reign of Two Granite, some three hundred years ago. Mostly the poems were about nature, fish in ponds and sunlight filtering through leaves, languid and exotic and unlike anything of Lsel Station or her time involuntarily participating in Teixcalaanli intrigue.

If her suspicions were correct, she'd be thrown into a different sort of intrigue the moment she arrived back on Lsel. This time, she'd have no native guide at her side. All actions would be her own to make with no external source of advice-

 _Calm down and distract yourself,_ Yskandr said in her head.

There wasn't much to distract oneself with in this tiny room on a courier boat. Mahit let some exasperation go through to Yskandr and turned back to the poetry anthology.

> The seagrass blooms with auks  
> who rise to wear the wind and hold the clouds.  
> All beings bask in the Sun  
> All beings are warmed by summer  
> The ocean is molten and rivers have thawed  
> Yet winter reigns within me.

An image of Three Seagrass, smiling, kissed, rose to her mind unprompted and brought with it a pang of yearning. Mahit pushed it aside and moved on to the next poem.

> The fish chases its tail  
> in warm tropical waters.  
> Languid and laughing, what fear does it have?  
> The current is gentle  
> and the day is bright.  
> Yet I cannot hold my breath and dive to the seagrass.

Mahit skipped past the rest of Fifteen Whirlwind's poems before Yskandr could advise her to do so.


End file.
